Geography

Haiti, in the West Indies, occupies the western
third of the island of Hispaniola, which it shares with the Dominican
Republic. About the size of Maryland, Haiti is two-thirds mountainous,
with the rest of the country marked by great valleys, extensive plateaus,
and small plains.

Government

Republic with an elected government.

History

Explored by Columbus on Dec. 6, 1492, Haiti's
native Arawaks fell victim to Spanish rule. In 1697, Haiti became the
French colony of Saint-Dominique, which became a leading sugarcane
producer dependent on slaves. In 1791, an insurrection erupted among the
slave population of 480,000, resulting in a declaration of independence by
Pierre-Dominique Toussaint l'Ouverture in 1801. Napoléon Bonaparte
suppressed the independence movement, but it eventually triumphed in 1804
under Jean-Jacques Dessalines, who gave the new nation the Arawak name
Haiti
. It was the world's first independent black republic.